Danny Ainge goes to Tucson to get a firsthand look at Aaron Gordon

Danny Ainge was in Tucson last night getting a firsthand look at projected lottery pick Aaron Gordon from out of Arizona.

The number three Wildcats avenged their first loss of the season which was to the Bears in Berkeley with a rout of California 87-59. In the game Gordon tallied 13 points on 4-7 shooting and 5-6 from the line in 24 minutes.

Gordon is an explosive athlete and will probably be available for Boston come draft time. However, he is in many respects the poster child as to why I feel this draft is so completely overrated.



Many people have compared Gordon to Blake Griffin but he runs the floor nowhere near as well as Griffin did in college. In the half court he can be spectacular on back door dunks but is completely lacking an overall game with limited offensive repertoire both in the post and facing the basket.

To exemplify, it's not a good sign that he is shooting 49% from the floor considering the amounts of dunks he gets ala Deandre Jordan.

He also is shooting the ball 43% from the stripe.

Blake Griffin, as a comparison point, is getting to the line for the Clippers over eight and a half times per game. Although, he could still improve, he is at least shooting 70% from the stripe.

Between shooting 32% from three with his free throw shooting Gordon's true shooting percentage is not very impressive.

Defensively he's active and has good timing but at the next level a lot of that will be negated due to his no longer being such a superior athlete and NBA length.

Boston is situated in a good position right now because it looks to me as though this draft goes five deep as far as potentially really impactful players coming out.

1. Joel Embiid
2. Jabari Parker
3. Dante Exum
4. Andrew Wiggins
5. Julius Randle

Marcus Smart has the potential to be a very good player at the next level but if you take a look at his numbers 42% from the floor and 29% from three there still are big questions surrounding him. For a combo guard who's been compared to a hybrid D-Wade and Jason Kidd these numbers don't exactly jump off the page.

As a result, Boston fans really need to hope the ping pong balls bounce their way come lottery time because this looks to be one of the most top heavy drafts the NBA has seen in quite some time.